Bases juiced, as are players

Once upon a time, a report detailing how professional athletes cheat and abuse their bodies with performance-enhancing drugs would have been shocking. (Of course, once upon a time, a disgraced politician convicted of crimes would fade into the sunset and not run for re-election).
Those days are l-o-n-g gone.
Today, the only thing shocking about Sports Illustrated's "Steroids in Baseball" piece is that a former superstar has the guts to turn on the profession that made him millions of dollars.
Then again, when your ex-player is a recovering alchoholic/addict with no regrets for what he ingested and what it did to his body (think retraction), perhaps guts isn't the right description.
Tom Verducci's piece in the current SI is a fascinating read as unnamed player after unnamed player details the sad state of Major League Baseball. The Grateful Dead would be quite at home if the band stumbled into the action allegedly going on in today's 30 major league clubhouses.
Main source
Verducci's main source is Ken Caminiti, the 1996 National League MVP who retired last year after the Atlanta Braves decided that Julio Franco was a better player. (Nothing defines broken-down, washed-up player quite like being replaced by a guy many believe to be 44 years old).
And nothing grabs the attention of normal fans quite like a "kiss-and tell" account.
If you believe what you read, just about every major leaguer is shooting up or gobbling down "Mother's Little Helper." Talk about bases juiced.
Caminiti estimates about half of the major leaguers are injecting steroids into their muscular bodies, which explains why there are so many players making long stays on the disabled list. As the bodies get bigger, the ligaments and tendons are being worn down by the added weight.
Now anyone who has been following baseball closely since 1995 knows the game has changed. Before the 1994 strike, a 50-home run season was big news.
Today, it means the slugger is a relative slacker.
As the ballparks and strike zones have become smaller, the records are being shattered. Look at how many homers Giants slugger Barry Bonds has hit in the past 15 months alone.
Caminiti says he has no regrets because the only way he could compete with the "big boys" was to inject his body with steroids just as they were doing.
Commissioner concerned
Commissioner Bud Selig is concerned about what the public will think about his sport's latest scandal. That wacky Bud -- he's always worried about baseball's image as if the sport still has one worthy of concern.
Relax Bud, the average fan could not care less about who's on steroids, bennies or whatever. And that's what Selig, the owners and the players should be worried about.
What's been fun to watch as this latest episode plays out is how baseball's leaders have scrambled to defend their inaction over banning illegal substances.
The owners correctly say they can't test big leaguers because it's not in the collective bargaining agreement. If you think the owners are going to lock out the players until they cave on drug testing, we have some stock in Montreal's Olympic Stadium that should dazzle you.
With balls flying to the plate faster than ever and out of the ballparks almost as rapidly, the owners don't want changes. Home runs sell tickets. Fastballs clocked at 98 mph draw oohs and ahs.
Union does nothing
The main joker in this "dilemma" is the players union, the strongest organized labor group in the land.
You'd think the best interests of the players would supersede any other issue in the steroids debate. Yet, the players union has turned a blind eye to the damage being inflicting in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Apparently, long-term health isn't as valuable as the money that can be earned and spent today.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.